Kevin J. Anderson, co-author of the new Dune novels was at Dragon*Con Atlanta today on a panel discussing Frank Herbert’s work in prose and film apparently stated that Peter Berg will not be directing the new Dune adaptation.

Thanks to Jacurutu.com founder (and Dune Fan Extraordinary) Freakzilla for the early heads-up on this – I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on this tomorrow morning

Well… that came a bit out of the blue, didn’t it? Berg’s IMDb page lists 9 separate projects – including Battleship, Hercules and Hancock 2, as ‘in development’ so it’s probably a safe bet to imagine he left to concentrate on some of these. The Dune movie will most probably continue, especially given the fight the Producers had to get it this far, and the big hopes of Paramount behind it. But to loose it’s director – especially one who has been so closely associated with the project since the beginning must be a blow.

But this may be cause for cautious optimism – Berg’s “muscular” and “fun” take on the source material had some fans of Frank Herbert’s original vision rather worried to say the least…